On this past weekend’s “Minding Your Business” on News 12+, NJBIA Chief Government Affairs Officer Christopher Emigholz joined Bob Considine to discuss the FY25 State Budget and the damage done with a $1 billion tax on New Jersey’s largest employers.
Emigholz also noted serious doubts that the new tax would go solely for its supposed target – NJ TRANSIT.
“Investing in mass transportation is critical for the economy of the state and that’s a good thing to figure out how to fund that,” Emigholz told Considine. “But by no means does it means that we support this.
“No. 1, NJ TRANSIT, needs to get a better handle on what their true spending needs are. Go and audit the system to see if there are efficiencies that they can find. Could we better make sure that this $1 billion is not going to be wasted?
“No. 2 is they have the gall to call it a Corporate Transit Fee yet not a single dollar this year is going to go to NJ TRANSIT. So they’re starting it off lying about what it’s going for. It’s going to pad the surplus this year.
“Obviously, the hope is that it gets to NJ TRANSIT. NJ TRANSIT’s FY26 is to be in that $800 billion range, which is what the corporate transit fee will bring in over time every year.
“But we’ve been in New Jersey a long time. We know that unless you constitutionally dedicate a revenue stream for something that’s important like NJ TRANSIT, the chances of it going to NJ TRANSIT and only NJ TRANSIT are limited. We can’t count on that in the future and that’s disappointing,” Emigholz said.
NJBIA’s “Minding Your Business” is a weekly TV show and the winner of seven Telly Awards over the past three years, including a gold 2024 Telly in the Interview & Talk Show category. It airs on News 12+ at 9:30 a.m. every Saturday and Sunday, as well as 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
